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The M18 Fuel tool that everybody has been waiting for is finally a reality, and will be available starting around September 2016. Milwaukee Tool showed off their M18 Fuel brushless cordless 10″ sliding compound miter saw at the 2016 New Product Symposium last week.

There’s no compromise for going cordless on this saw. Unlike many cordless miter saws, this saw features a full 10″ blade spinning at 4000 RPM, no doubt thanks to its brushless motor. It can cut up to 6″ baseboard trim against the fence, and up to a 2×12 dimensional lumber flat against the table. All while weighing just 45 lbs, or 47 lbs with the 9.0Ah pack.

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With a High Demand 9.0Ah battery pack, this saw can make up to 400 cuts in 3-1/2″ baseboard trim, 300 cuts through 2x4s, or 150 cuts in 2×12 lumber.

I asked about whether you can pair the cordless miter saw with a lower capacity battery pack, and was told that you CAN use it with a 5.0Ah battery pack without noticing any performance degradation, but of course you’ll get fewer cuts per charge.

This saw is designed to be portable, and not just because it’s cordless. As you might have experienced, some sliding miter saws are a chore to move around. This one has carrying handles on the sides, and also on top of the saw. When it’s time to move the saw, the bulk of the saw slides forward into the base, folds down, and locks into a compact position.

With the shadow cut line indicator, there’s no laser to knock out of alignment. A light shines down both sides of the blade, produce a shadow of the edge of the blade, teeth and all, onto the workpiece. The shadow is also supposed to be more visible in sunlight than a laser.

When the blade is brought down to the workpiece, the shadow line is perfectly matched with the kerf of the blade, showing you EXACTLY where and how wide your cut will be.

The miter adjustment plate is stainless steel and can be adjusted if the saw gets out of square. To change the miter angle, you pull up the top cam lever and swing the arm left or right until you hit a detent. If you want the saw to swing and adjust freely or override the detents, you can pull the bottom trigger. Pushing the cam lever down locks the angle in whether you are on a detent or not.

That little lever on the right side of the saw is a chop lock. By toggling it and pushing the sliding carriage all the way back, you can lock the sliding mechanism so the miter saw operates as a regular miter saw.

The dual bevel is adjusted by lifting up on a paddle on the top of the saw. Lift it up fully and you can adjust to any angle. If you let it go to halfway down after that it’ll stop in detents at common angles.

Rather than having the head slide on rails, the rails slide in and out of the body of the saw. This makes the saw more compact and protects the rails from damage during transportation.

Here you can see how deep the saw is, with the rails fully extended. You save a lot of space with this type of sliding mechanism.

It should also make the saw easier to carry, since the docked position centers more of the weight within the base.

On the back of the saw there is a dual 1-1/4″ and 2-1/2″ dust port, so you don’t need an expensive adapter to use your common shop vacuum to collect the dust. The saw does come with a dust collection bag, but we have never seen one that works all that well.

The saw has locations for two removable hold-downs, one on the left side, and one on the right. If you don’t need them for the cut, you can turn them around so they are in back of the fence. All the saws that were setup had one hold-down placed on the left.

Nobody mentioned if a hold-down came with the saw or it was an extra accessory. I would guess that each saw comes with a single hold-down, but will check on this.

The safety mechanism on the handle was new to me. There’s a little lever that you push to the side before you can squeeze the handle to start the saw. Also pictured above is the switch to trigger the shadow cut line indicator. It’s the one with the little flashlight graphic.

Milwaukee demoed the saw with a 10″ 40T blade, but when I asked what blade would be shipped with the saw, I was told it might come with a 60T blade. I was concerned about a difference in run time, but he assured me that is should be minimal.

Price: $549 for the bare saw, $649 for the kit which comes with a 9.0Ah battery and chargerETA: September 2016

Here’s the actual presentation, thanks to Charles & Hudson. It’s the very same presentation I, and everyone else at NPS16, had seen live.

First Thoughts

Many people were impressed by the power of the saw when they tried it out, but I didn’t get that impression at first. Only later did I really appreciate why.

My initial problem is that, when you use a miter saw, you are used to the motor bearing down and making a deeper noise when it is in the meat of the cut. This miter saw didn’t seem to do that it. The motor seemed just as happy spinning freely as it did in the middle of a cut. When you think about it, that is a real feat of motor control.

As I was looking over my photos of the saw, I noticed something interesting about the motor. Most double bevel miter saws have motors that are mounted horizontally across the top of the miter saw, so they spin in the same plane as the blade. It looks like the motor of the M18 Fuel miter saw is mounted vertically so the motor rotates perpendicular to the blade’s rotation.

Most miter saws have “sidewinder-style” motor configurations. This one does not.

I’m not sure why they engineered the saw with this type of gear transmission. Maybe it’s because the compact brushless motor allows them to, maybe it’s so there are fewer moving parts, or maybe this configuration provides a smaller footprint when the saw is folded down for transportation and storage. Or it could be for greater power generation.

The only other saw that I can find with this configuration is the Festool Kapex, a $1500 saw.

I am really impressed with the level of thought and care that Milwaukee engineers put into the design of their M18 Fuel cordless miter saw. I’ve only cut a few boards with it in a controlled environment, but the only thing that might give me pause before buying this saw is the price, compared to an equivalent corded saw.

About Benjamen

Benjamen Johnson grew up watching his dad work as a contractor and woodworker. He became an electrical engineer and took an interest in woodworking. Check out Ben's projects at Ben's Workshop or follow him on twitter or instagram.

53 Comments

Really a beauty.
Some thing similar happened to me using a Dewalt cordless circular saw. It feels strange and then i realized the noise (and rpm) was different from the one used everyday, a bosch corded one.

Interesting that they warn of performance loss with anything less than a 5.0 battery. Its been debated many times if there is any performance loss/gain on any M12 or M18 tool with a compact or XC battery. So its even more surprising they suggest XC 5.0 even though the 3.0 & 4.0 are XC also.

$650 with a 9.0 battery seems like a great deal considering thats a $250-300 battery versus $550 no battery! Assume these are street prices?

Unless something was said in the presentation (I hadn’t had a chance to watch it yet), there’s no mention I know of about performance loss with a 5.0Ah battery pack.

If it works with an M18 XC 5.0Ah battery pack without any compromise in cutting performance, it should work equally as well with 3.0Ah and 4.0Ah battery packs.

Milwaukee has been clear about the performance gains of XC batteries vs. compact batteries. Certain tools, exclusively drills and drivers to my knowledge, are designed to deliver around 10% higher performance with an XC battery than with a compact battery.

Other times, an XC tool might provide longer-than-proportional runtime benefits. Last year, when demonstrating the benefit of the 9.0Ah battery pack, Milwaukee showed that XC battery packs could power the same tools, but high demand stress testing triggered thermal overload protection.

A continuously run tool operated at maximum power might exceed the heat dissipation potential of a compact battery pack. Under the same conditions, an XC battery pack should run cooler and longer. Heat diminishes battery performance.

While this is not a tool I would want to run with a 1.5Ah compact battery pack, I wouldn’t hesitate to run it with any XC pack.

It wasn’t in the video, it was a question I asked after the presentation.

Specifically I asked if you bought the bare tool, would there be any performance issues with your existing batteries. He didn’t mention XC packs specifically, he just gave the 5.0 Ah pack as an example.

I thought I remember the guy saying any pack would work okay, but I didn’t want repeat information I wasn’t sure about. I only mentioned the 5.0 pack because I was sure about that one. We’ll add it to the list of things to clarify.

I was definitely thinking along the same line that Stuart was that a 10 cell pack would handle the current draw and the heat better than a 5 cell pack.

I just got this saw and tried all my different battery packs cutting thru a treated 4×4 post. 9.0 was flawless, 5.0 flawless, 4.0 no problem, 3.0 felt some resistance but just went slow and it made the cut fine, 1.5 ah battery could not make the cut. The light flickered before i ever even touched the wood, as soon as the blade touched the wood it made a scratch and died. The lights were all flashing on the battery. I attempted 3x’s and got the same results. Just with 3 attempts, it used 1 bar (out of 4) on the battery. I would say use 4.0 and up and you’ll have no issues with performance; obviously getting more runtime with more ah.

I would like to have seen this be more in the 399 range for a bare tool and 499 for a kit. As Benjamen said in his post, the only thing that gives him pause is the price and that goes for me to.

While I haven’t used the saw I’m going to guess it doesn’t quite match up to its high end 15A corded counterparts. Partially evidenced by the lower rpm. More performance and cut capacity (12″ slider) can be had for the same and sometime less money than this saw including Milwaukee’s own 12″ slider.

I guess it’s just knowing that this saw will only last as long as the M18 platform does is what scares me and makes the price hard to justify.

I was at the Media Event…lots of talk about the price. Think about it this way, people pay $600 for a Bosch without thought and it has a cord…this beauty looks like it will perform similar to a corded saw….likely worth that cost and even more 🙂

Though a $600 Bosch you can get it with a stand for that price. Does Milwaukee even make a Miter Saw stand? If not wonder if something is in the works. Pics show it on a stand, it doesnt come with one right? What stand did they have it on?

I guess thats it, I know I AC power will be available well into the future. That’s why I was somehow hoping this would be a hybrid powered saw.

I am in the market for a new miter saw. I’ve had a craftsman pro for 5 years now and I’m willing to bet it will outlast the milwaukee m18 saw. Not because of durability as I’d wager the m18 is the better built saw, but because my craftsman is AC and the m18 is battery.

Same situation with me. I’d love if this was corded or a battery/corded hybrid.

For all of my hand tools, I’m very comfortable going cordless. It is all M12 and M18 stuff.

But for large bulky tools, I just can’t see the benefit to cordless unless you’re at a site that doesn’t have power. And for me, that would be almost never. Having a cord would future-proof this saw, as who knows when the M18 line-up will be abandoned by Milwaukee. If they guaranteed it would be around for the next 25 years, sure I’d probably jump on this saw. But a powertool purchase like this, for me, would be a once or twice in a lifetime investment and so I want to get decades of use out of it. Can’t see going with a battery only option for that reason.

This truly looks impressive. I have the DeWalt cordless miter saw and after a year of use I love it more than when I first got it. I can’t wait to check it out in person. Personally, I don’t run Milwaukee but I would consider this saw.

In mention of the perpendicular motor mount I remembered an old but excellent delta miter saw that had the same motor configuration. The Delta – 12-in. Dual Bevel Compound Miter Saw 36-412.

Jeez that sure looks promising. I sure was hoping Milwaukee would not compromise when designing this saw and it appears as if they have done a great job. I think the $649.00 price is a little high but you are going to get a 9.0AH battery and what is shaping up to be perhaps an new industry standard in cordless Sliding Compound Miter Saws so I think its going to sell. It’s on my list XMAS is looking good!

Seems pretty obvious that the 90 degree gearing and motor configuration allows the motor housing to be positioned out of the way of the side of the blade and therefore allowing the greatest saw cut height capacity.

The motor and gearing look somewhat similar to a worm drive saw, but looks like 90 degree bevel gearing based on the gear case.

on another note………this saw probably just convinced me to go red with my next cordless system.

Brushless motors aren’t really more powerful than brushed motor, for your information brushless motorsare more efficient as they don’t get as hot and heat slows motors down that is really the difference

If I had to bet there is a decent chance they will offer something free with it for a limited time. Frankly I’d prefer a battery to a stand. Most likely at HD. It would be similar to the free baterries that came with the flood light and stand light last year when they were released.

Seems like the wish of having it be corded and cordless is something people on this thread, other threads, and on other tool blog social media wanted to see. I think Milwaukee should stop “cut the cord” and give us the option to cut the cord or not with more of their m18 tools than the 3 lights and fan that currently have hybrid power options.

It looks great and well made, but, I have NEVER been on a jobsite where we had to stop working because we HAD to have a miter saw running before electrical was hooked up. Same is true of the legendary rumored cordless table saw. I see them as solutions to problems that just don’t exist. Even with this 9.0 battery at some point it has to get charged by wait for it, wait for it, a corded charger and I’ll bet a left body part that the backup XC 3,4,5 is dead long before that 9.0 is charged.

In commercial construction there is a move to get away from ANY corded tools and ladders. When OSHA inspectors get on a job the first thing they hit are electric cords, and guys on ladders not tied off. Cords also have a large trip and fall liability which is killing contractors workmans comp costs. Pre-work stretching is also part of these work changes, seriously.

They are pushing for completely corded tools and use lifts instead of ladders. I do mostly residential interior trim and we almost always have electricity, but often not enough and poorly located. A cordless saw is also ideal for punchout work.

Do you work in an old box that has no outside view? This saw is great for off grid application”s or no power jobsites.”shure beats that nois’y gas generator started at 5:45 ending at 3 in the arizona desert” just like every other cordless tool they are awesome. if you work in a box buy corded!

My crews run every tool as a battery only tool these days. Only the air compressor continues to be AC driven. It’s a fact that our jobs go faster because of the battery driven tools. Sure we have AC all over the place, it charges our batteries. But corded tools are less productive than cordless tools in practice.

One of the first things I noticed was that this was one messy saw. I looked up into the throat of the dust collection port from the front and it was half clogged with saw dust. I should have gotten a picture.

With a portable saw like this having to connect it to a vacuum to collect dust just seems like a different form of a cord. It’d be nice if you could go completely cordless and have minimal dust saw for the trim carpenter who wants to drag the saw from room to room to be more efficient.

I’ve been thinking that it needs a feature like disc sanders with a dust bag have, they use a fan on the motor to suck dust into the bag. It might not be possible with their current motor configuration, but maybe have a small secondary motor that sucks dust into the bag when the saw is running.

Maybe you could turn it off to increase the number of cuts when you don’t need it, but I think if the saw minimized it’s own dust, people some people wouldn’t care about fewer cuts per battery.

Funny you should say that about the integrated dust bag/fan, they should actually have this technology on hand as it’s featured on the AEG PS 216L and PS 254L mitre saw’s. AEG is part of the same mother company as far as I’m aware…

Cool miter saws. The dust collection seems a little tacked on, and not really designed from the ground up to capture the dust. And having a separate container rather than a dust bag seems like a pain too.

I wish more sliding miter saws had trenching — the ability to cut dadoes. It’d be so much easier than dealing with a miter sled on a table saw for rough cuts

Stuart and I just recently said this in the comments of the Milwaukee New Tools for 2016 and 2017 Teasers post, but it bears repeating because there are some You tubers I can think of that keep perpetuating this rumor.

>>I asked several Milwaukee employees and they say Milwaukee and the other TTI brands are completely separate, they don’t share designs.

Don’t worry about a flame war. I’m not married to any position. I’m just trying to accurately represent what I’ve been told and what I’ve read by Stuart. I’d trust Stuart’s word over any other blogger or You Tuber.

There a few videos where I’ve seen a you tuber look at a Ryobi tool and say that we’ll be seeing this technology at Milwaukee soon, wink, wink. That’s specifically why I asked people at the Milwaukee event.

That’s a really stunning example… it’s an M12 tool in Europe that looks to be identical to an AEG product, or vice versa.

I have a couple of theories:

1) AEG has an agreement to rebrand an M12 tool from Milwaukee. Two companies don’t have to be related for this to happen, but I imagine it’s gotta be easier if they are.

2) I believe the people I asked were product managers, maybe they didn’t know that there had been a few instances in the past.

When I went to AEG’s website all I could see were Ridgid batteries. They are identical. Also their oil driven impact wrench like Ridgid. So basically AEG is rebranding Ridgid and Ridgid is rebranding Ryobi.

Let the one-upsmenship began just watched dewalt unveil there new flex volt system on my lunch break..and oh boy..all I can say is full size cordless 12″ sliding miter saw and cordless table saw, among other things..and the batteries are backward compatible with existing 20v max systems..

HomeDepot.com now has the miter saw, but there are a few odd things about the listing. The title says “M18 18-Volt FUEL Lithium-Ion Cordless Brushless 10 in. Dual Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw Kit” but the pictures clearly show a corded model. The Milwaukee model # shows to be 2734-21; the “-21” is always used for a kit that has 1 battery, but the listing description says it comes with 2 batteries (9.0ah). If this truly is the M18 cordless with 2 9.0ah batteries, then $699 is a great price. The 9.0ah batteries are also on HDs site at $199, so 2 batteries would be $400 of the $699, making the saw only $300.

Love the tool. However I can’t get the 45 dregree on the flat to cut perfect. The 90 degree cut is perfect on the flat.
I’m in the house trimming business and very important to get good miter cuts.
I’m sure that there is someway of fine tuning the fence or the detent.

I know , old post. But.
I bought the saw. Right hand miters were perfect, Left hand miters were not.
On 3 1/2 casing the left miter ragged on leading edge for 3/4″. No amount of adj would fix the issue. Sent it back. The replacement was perfect. My problem now is after trimming for 3 weeks, and falling in love with the saw, I finally had to cut 1*12. Very disappointing . Again, the leading edge of the cut was ragged. Replaced blade with a Diablo ultra fine and it did not help. There is some deflection in the head when pulled out to max width on the rails. I very sadly sent it back.
Bought the DW717. Good saw. But I want the light 47#, nimble, cordless Milwaukee back. It s like difference between driving an MGB or Miata and a 60s monster station wagon funky boat.
Paul

Thanks for posting your comments about the accuracy and alignment issues you experienced. I noticed quite a bit of head deflection on the floor model at my local HD. I wasn’t quite sure if it was an anomaly or if it was a pervasive issue, but I’m convinced it is the latter. Unfortunately, it’s the one thing that is holding me back from pulling the trigger.

I think they need to beef up the structural rigidity to minimize the lateral deflection before this is purchase worthy for people that require accuracy. I don’t really care if it added 3 – 5 lbs. Fix the deflection and you’ve got a winner.

It sounds like a decent price for the 9Ah battery and charger, let alone a cordless miter saw.

Depending on the blade that came with the saw, I’d probably invest in a better blade. I think my sample it came with a 24T and a 40T Milwaukee blade, but It looks like it’s now shipping with a 60T blade. Upgrading to a 60 tooth Diablo blade would probably make a noticeable difference in cut quality over the 60T Milwaukee blade.

My experience is that the saw was pretty accurate out of the box, as far as the fence being square and the miter angle being accurate. I don’t do much bevel cutting, so I don’t have much to say about the bevel accuracy.

I found the dust collection to be pretty poor, one of the messiest saws I’ve every used.

The saw can bog down a little bit on larger pieces, but if you take it slow it is fine.